Heel for footwear



Nov. 18, .1930. w; A, OW N 1,781,931

HEEL FOR FOOTWEAR Filed Jan. 26, 929

1N ENTOR.

ll mLm/y Owe/v.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov, 1930' UNITED sTA WILLIAM A. owEN, or AKRON, orno HEEL non. FOOTWEAR Application filed January 26, 1929. Serial no. 335,158.

This invention relates to heels for footwear and particularly what are termed high heels for womenis shoes.

The general purposes of the invention are to provide a strong, light heel which will not split or crack in application to the. shoe or in use, and to provide a heel whichhas a resilient lift integrally secured thereto but which can be remo'ved for replacement by another lift when'it is worn out.

The foregoing and other purposes of the invention are attained in the heel illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific form thereof shownand described.

Of the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 illustrates a longitudinal section through the heel portion of a shoe equipped W with a heel embodying the invention; and

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

The improved heel comprises a body portion 1 of hard, comparatively rigid, cellular J rubber or equivalent material provided with an integral veneer 2 of comparatively hard, solid rubber or its equivalents which can be colored by compounding to match the color of the shoe and .can be highly polished or which can have a covering of suitable material secured thereon as in the ease of the wooden heel.

Extending down in the shank of the heel there is embedded the body portion a strong light tube 3 which may be of some light metal such as aluminum. This rein forces the shank of the heel and is especially" desirable for use in that type of extremely high, small-shanked heel referred to as French heels to prevent breakage.

A rubber lift 4 of comparatively soft, tough rubber is vulcanized, preferablyas a single operation, with the body of the heel and is thus integrally bonded thereto. It is understood that the heel above-described ma be made by methods well-known in the rub er industry which may include the steps of compounding rubber to vulcanze hard and with a blowing agent to make 1t cellular to provide the body portion 1, in-

corporating thereinforcing tube 3 therein,

the lift 4 thereto as a single operation.

Because of the different degrees of hardness to w hich the body of the heel and the lift are vulcanized, it is possible to pull a worn lift off the heel and to leave a substan-' tially smooth surface on the bottom of the heel on which a separate lift maybe nailed.

, The heel is nailed to the upper of the shoe by the nails 5 which are securely held in the cellular rubber body 1.

gralnless,

This body being it has no tendency to crack as the nails disrupt only those cells through which they pass It will .appear from the foregoing that a strong, light and effective heel construction has been provided by the invention. Obviously modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

,What is claimed is 1. A high heel for footwear comprising a body portion of hard, cellular rubber, a reinforcement comprising a metal tube extending down through the shank thereof,

said tube being completely supported. in said Ahi gh heel for footwear comprising a body portion of hard, cellular rubber, a

rigid m down through the shank thereof etallic reinforcement and completely supported in said cellular rubber, an integral veneer of hard. rubber about the body portion, and a lift of comparatively" soft rubber vulcanized to the bottom of'the heel.

f WILLIAM A; OWEN.

-cellular rubber, an integral veneer ef hard extending a l 

